Option to reduce RANDOM combat (suggestion)
As someone who played a lot of DoS games, there are two major 'issues' that both me and my coop friends have with BG3:
1) Random misses - high chance of misses. Game use 20 sided (1d20) dice roll to decide if you hit, then dice roll to decide how hard you hit ( for example 1d12 ). Miss chances of 40% are not uncommon, and that can be *very* frustrating. Also, your damage averages in above example 6.5, with +/- 100% (can be 1, can be 12). And low hits ( say 1 with 1d12 ) could be also source of annoyance.
2) Single action per turn - you can do in most cases just one attack per turn. Also, those are mostly simple actions (sword/bow hit, attack spell), with very few opportunities for tactical decisions or synergy between different actions both for single and multiple characters
There are a lot of things to consider before going the route of abandoning randomness. I hope this post will give a better understanding of how combat works. Currently in-game it's barely shown how modifiers impact the game and it is important to know that modifiers impact everything.
1) Most importantly the game does not just use a d20 to decide outcomes. Most cases you need to roll to beat an opponents AC (armor class) and you get the benefit of proficiency and modifiers "If (1d20 + Proficiency + Modifier) >= AC, the attack hits". Right now Baldur's Gate 3 is balanced in a way that expects you to min/max (invest in the stats the benefit the class the most). I've tested this a few times and it matters a lot, I've had a lot more success with a +3 modifier instead of a +2.
It's also important to know when you're rolling
advantage "If (Max(2d20) + Proficiency + Modifier) >= AC, the attack hits" and when you're rolling at
disadvantage "If (Min(2d20) + Proficiency + Modifier) >= AC, the attack hits".
Baldur's Gate 3 currently has arbitrary moments where your character can gain advantage or disadvantage. It's easy to abuse these mechanics and a lot of folks on the forums want them removed so that combat can become more engaging.
---> NOT IN DND 5e [Advantage (backstab, higher ground) Disadvantage (threatened)]
Also...
> Some attacks will hit unless the opponent makes a saving throw, it's important to know which abilities use this (Sacred Flame, for example) and what stat they use for the saving throw.
> Some spells such as Bless and Bane affect the chance to land an attack.
> Larian does have the option to lower AC on NPCs so that attacks can hit more often.
2) Divinity 2's action points also included character movement whereas in Baldur's Gate 3 that is a separate resource. In BG3, there is a lot more to do than one action: In one turn usually you can move, take an action, and a bonus action. The game will be more challenging if players only use their main action on a character's turn. Divinity 2 does have an easy to understand action point system (you get six points to spend each turn without Lone Wolf). BG3 has a tool tip at the start that can be skipped, I'm not too sure how well it explains combat to new players. (Players not familiar with Dungeons and Dragons). The most important takeaway is that they are both very different games.
Personally I think it would be more important that Larian makes changes to the Baldur's Gate 3 so players know how impactful modifiers are. And it would be simple to adjust AC for an easier difficulty for more assured hits, instead of setting every outcome to the average. (There are threads asking for modifiers to be shown more often and I am in full support of that).
Here's an example of how pre-determined rolls could backfire. late-game an attack set to roll the average every time would never hit a high AC opponent.
So asking for pre-determined rolls would probably be more work for Larian than adding a difficulty where enemies only have lowered AC. Both options Larian would have to lower AC on NPCs in a new difficulty.
